The BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy partnered with the International AIDS Society to release a report Monday arguing that criminalizing drug users spreads violence and infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS.

A new commentary by the BC-CfE's Dr. Evan Wood argues that America's "war on drugs" has failed to to achieve its intended objectives, and it's time to implement science-based alternative policy models that are proving effective in other parts of the world.

Supervised medical treatment with heroin leads to significantly lower use of street heroin by chronic addicts than does injected or oral methadone, according to a study to be published Friday in the medical journal, Lancet.

Researchers from across scientific disciplines have been closely examining the impacts of law enforcement strategies aimed at controlling illicit drug use. The findings clearly demonstrate that politically popular “get tough” approaches actually make the drug problem worse, fuel crime and violence, add to government deficits, rob the public purse of potential revenue, help spread disease and divide families.

The BC-CfE's Dr. Thomas Kerr and Dr. Evan Wood are among a group of drug-treatment experts writing to express dismay about the continued misrepresentation of the evidence supporting the effectiveness of methadone treatment.

Dr. Evan Wood’s long list of accomplishments would be impressive for a senior academic, but having all these achievements under his belt at the “tender” age of 36 is why the BMJ Group — publisher of the prestigious British Medical Journal — conferred its inaugural Junior Doctor of the Year Award upon him.